Warriors of the Dragon

Sviat

Sorin was watching Sephira curiously as she took off from the courtyard and flew up to one of the many Western spires of the green castle. He had Oryx follow them and it seemed she wanted to follow them anyway. The Naiad Guard had pointed spears at her and she was uncomfortable with the look of their black eyes and scaled skin. She expressed to her rider that they had curses on their tongues and were aiming a lot of bad energy at her Felis companion.

Sephira landed on the familiar balcony connected to Feuryn's quarters. They were impossibly large, almost uncomfortably so. There were several different bed chambers off a main chamber and a large bathing pool in yet another room off the main room which contained a hearth for cooking, a large dining table, and some lounges to sit on around a marble fireplace.

"She gave you mother's quarters?" Sorin questioned rhetorically as he stepped down into the ridiculously large naiad room which was likely meant for an entire coven of three rather than just one.

"I'm not sure if Feuryn would be satisfied or angry." Sephira answered as she looked into the bed chamber that her mother tended to favor. She usually was given her own chambers and then would instead stay with Feuryn in hers, but she found it strange that Ariemme would elect to give her the nicer chambers meant for a leader and not a second in command. She wondered if the Earth Kingdom Princess was given chambers as nice as these. She knew the Princess didn't often attend meetings of the Allied Clans and had never seen her in Nysa even though she had seen the King. The naiads had a closer relationship with humans than her people or the Undine due to their shared border along the Andvara River.

"I'm just going to stay here." Sorin murmured, knowing his sister didn't object to sharing with him. He had left the large glass door open to the balcony and Sephira found herself wanting to close it to prevent the cold breeze from blowing in. She closed it slowly watching Oryx and Caius lay together under one of the three shelters built into the side of the tower.

She turned back to see Sorin pulling off his armour on the way to lay down in Feuryn's bed. She caught herself smiling at the similarities she guessed only she and perhaps her father would notice between her mother and her brother.

Her tired thoughts wandered to Craven before sleep overtook her. 

*

Craven woke when there was a knock at his door and the pale blue ceiling made his eyebrows furrow for a moment as he tried to figure out where in the world he was. The room was far quieter than his room at home and much quieter than sleeping outdoors which is where he had been for the past few weeks. The knock was more urgent this time and he got up off the round bed with a glance at the darkness beyond the green-tinged dragon glass door out to the balcony, reminding him that he was in naiad territory.

"Will you stop!" he growled as the one behind his door started knocking again louder right before he was about to open it. It was Dawn, not to his surprise, but her eyes were wide and worried. Markus, Leuthil, and Isolde were behind her and the Air Clan children were making their way from their room down the hall. He felt apprehension enter his features and the first thought that passed through his head was that the naiads had perished. "What happened?" he asked anxiously as Rauka emerged from her room and joined them at his door. They all looked panicked.

"The Duvendis killed two naiads." Isolde squeaked, making Craven's eyes go wide as he pictured Sephira in chains or worse being surrounded by the entire Naiad Guard.

"Why?" Rauka gasped.

"I'm guessing they saw something they shouldn't have." Dawn murmured. "We should leave if we can."

"Where are they?" Craven practically shouted, as he worried Dawn wanted to leave without them.

"The Naiad Guard surrounded them. I was going to find everybody when Dawn found me. I'm not sure what to do." Isolde said, her green eyes watering as she looked back and forth down either side of the hallway as if the Naiad Guard was coming for her too.